Adidas' Futurecraft 4D (Reuters/Joe Penney)

It seems that 3D printed shoes are one step closer to reality. This is a timely story for me as I just went shoe shopping this week... Every time I need new tennis shoes, I go through the same routine: choose from the limited selection of wide sizes and then, through process of elimination, find a pair that I can tolerate. I speed walk, so the shoes have to be large enough to fit my feet but be snug enough to stay in place while I put them through their paces. Based on this week's workout, the pair I just selected are not working out. So I'm always interested in hearing about 3D printed shoes.

Adidas is apparently leading the pack pursuing a technology to allow mass produced custom shoes. They announced a

“new partnership with Silicon Valley start-up Carbon (which) allows it to overcome many of those difficulties to produce a sole that can rival one made by an injection mould, and at a speed and price that allow for mass production.”

The Futurecraft 4D shoe's introduction is planned for 2018 with the intention of offering shoe soles for individual fittings and limited editions.

The partnership with Carbon should allow Adidas to reduce the time it takes to produce shoes by additive manufacturing. Its 3D printer design is reportedly 10 times faster than traditional 3D printer designs, printing soles in as little as 20 minutes.